Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982 - Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Uneven Division? Hidden Thoughts

Everyone waited patiently until Lin Xiuqing put down the abacus and said, “It’s 7,628 jin, 1,601.88 yuan, no mistakes.”

“I told you there wouldn’t be any errors. We’re from the same village, I wouldn’t stoop so low as to short-change you on weight. Business is all about trust.”

Ye Yaodong smiled, “I wasn’t saying Brother Cai would short-change us, just worried that with such big numbers, calculating only once might lead to mistakes.”

“It’s fine, no one can guarantee they won’t make calculation errors. Since there’s no problem, I’ll write you a receipt.”

“What? We can’t get the money right now?” Ah Guang’s eyes widened.

“Where would I get that much cash? These horse mackerel aren’t like yellow croaker where you need to find buyers first due to high prices. These sell easily. I’ll write you a receipt first, and you can come to my house tomorrow or the day after to collect the money. It’s just over a thousand – you don’t think I’ll run away, do you? I handle how many goods in a month!”

“Fine, write the receipt then.”

Everyone knew purchasing stations never paid on the spot – they had to wait for the money to come in from sales. They didn’t really mind waiting a day or two; Ah Guang was just overexcited and impatient.

“Dong, you keep the receipt, let your wife hold onto it. Tell us when it’s time to collect the money.”

“Alright!”

After the excitement, the villagers were still reluctant to leave, continuing to gather at the purchasing station, whispering among themselves as they looked at the baskets of horse mackerel.

Xiao Xiao, Ah Zheng, and Ah Guang excitedly followed Ye Yaodong to his house, bragging to his family along the way about how capable they were, how clever, how lucky…

Their laughter and chatter filled the entire journey.

When they reached Ye’s house, they each went their separate ways.

Mother Ye asked with a beaming smile, “Dong, are you going again tomorrow?”

“I’ll ask after Ah Guang goes home, see if we can rent for another day. We were originally going to forage on the lonely island today, meeting the school of horse mackerel was just luck.”

Lin Xiuqing said regretfully, “Tomorrow the house construction starts, we need to help at home, otherwise we could go foraging with you.”

“It’s fine, I can go by myself. You all do what you need to do.”

Seeing him being unusually diligent and sensible, Mother Ye was quite pleased, “You wouldn’t be much help anyway, so it’s good to go foraging and bring back some seafood for the workers’ meals. With so many workers, we need lots of food each day. Having your eldest brother there tomorrow is enough.”

“Who knows if they’ll rent us the boat tomorrow?”

“If they won’t rent it, then you can help carry yellow soil from the mountain and collect stones from the East Bridge village river – one more pair of hands for the family!”

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. If he told his mother about flipping the cart while carrying yellow soil this morning, she’d probably glare at him. In his previous life, he really hadn’t done much work – totally useless.

“We’ll see tomorrow.”

He went straight to the backyard to shower. He didn’t care that his clothes from the morning weren’t dry yet. After washing, he put on shorts and swaggered into the house, then lay right down. When his clothes dried in the evening, he could go drinking at Ah Guang’s place, saving some rice at home…

Lin Xiuqing followed him into the room and said quietly, “Second sister-in-law seemed like she wanted to say something several times earlier, did you notice?”

“Why would I watch her?”

“No, I think she might want to ask about the money from selling the horse mackerel!”

Ye Yaodong looked at her bewilderedly, “What I earned has nothing to do with her. Each household has always kept what they earn themselves.”

“Maybe she thinks since your oldest and second brothers follow father out to sea and their earnings go toward building the house, while you don’t take turns and instead rent a boat to earn money yourself, she has some thoughts about it.”

Women are just too complicated, too many thoughts, too troublesome!

“The boat is father’s, what’s wrong with sons helping the family do some work? Though I’m a bit lazy and like to eat, haven’t I been helping these past two days by foraging, saving some money on vegetables for the family? It’s all contributing effort, why can’t I keep the money I earn myself?”

“Shh… lower your voice!” Lin Xiuqing glanced at the door – they must have been heard.

“What’s there to fear!”

He was absolutely justified!

It was his earnings, and now his second sister-in-law was getting bold enough to try reaching for it – not a chance.

Lin Xiuqing didn’t dare say more, afraid he’d rush out to argue.

As long as second sister-in-law didn’t speak up, they could pretend not to know for now.

Seeing her silence, Ye Yaodong comforted her, “Don’t worry about her. In a few months, once the house is built, we’ll split up and each family will live their own life.”

She responded softly, “Mm.”

When Father Ye’s fishing boat returned, since his clothes weren’t dry and he had nothing to wear, he didn’t go to the dock to help sort the catch, contentedly staying at home.

When Father Ye came home, he unusually showed a smile to him, “Not bad, actually caught over seven thousand jin of horse mackerel.”

“It’s not really that much, split between four people, it’s only 400 yuan each.”

“That’s still very good. It would have been even better if you went alone.”

Ye Yaodong thought: If I went alone, you’d be short one son and hosting my funeral feast for relatives and friends!

Second Sister-in-law, who had been holding back all afternoon, finally had a chance to speak.

“Father, oldest brother and Ah Hua take turns going out to sea with you, and their earnings go toward building the house. Shouldn’t Yaodong’s fish money also go toward building the house?”

“Hm?” Father Ye frowned, about to speak, when Ye Yaodong directly repeated what he had told Lin Xiuqing in the afternoon.

“But it’s different. They put in the labor, and their earnings don’t get divided but go toward building the house. Yaodong doesn’t go out to sea with you, keeps his earnings for himself, which means our earnings are partly going toward building his house too. Father, this isn’t quite fair, we’re getting the short end.”

Father Ye frowned, “Who says so? How can you calculate it like that? I’m giving my money to build houses for you all, aren’t I losing the most? The boat is mine, not public property. Have I asked you for money these past two years while fixing the boat bit by bit?”

“The eldest and second sons going out to sea counts as contributing to the family, and the third son foraging is also contributing. Besides what can be sold, hasn’t he contributed everything else? And I heard from second son that third son has been helping at the house site these past two days.”

“Put another way, if I were to pay wages to the eldest and second sons for going to sea with me, would it be enough to build houses for each of your families? How is it you earning money to build his house? It’s clearly me subsidizing building houses for you all. The seafood third son forages also saves some money on vegetables, that’s money too, that’s his contribution, just in a different way.”

He had clearly taken in what the third son said – keep what you earn yourself, no problem.

Moreover, looking at the three sons’ circumstances, the third son was the poorest. Parents tend to worry more about their weaker son, and though they might be disappointed in him, there’s still some favoritism.

Seeing her unsatisfied expression, Father Ye continued, “If he doesn’t go foraging tomorrow, I’ll break his legs and carry him to the house site to help. That should settle it, right? Which do you think is more tiring – going to sea or carrying stones and yellow soil?”

They’ve barely earned anything and already complaining about uneven work distribution. What if the family earned big money? It would be unbearable!

Second daughter-in-law was just too calculating.

All these years, they’ve kept their own earnings, eaten food produced by the family, hardly spent any money. The third son rarely earns money, and she can’t wait to jump out.

Father Ye understood perfectly what kind of people his family members were and their personalities. He had long wanted to split up the family and let them live separately.

Children and grandchildren have their own fortune – let them live however they want!